We Look After Our Own
by 1monster2
Summary: The Marauders, Lily, and Leah are all still friends, even in Leah's sixth year. When her life begins to overwhelm her, what will she do-and what will her friends do to help her out? Includes lots of fun fluff moments, and the gang being amazing as usual! (Rated T for dialogue in the second section)


**A/N: Hello, all! I know this isn't the new chapter of "The Leah Chronicles" that you've been waiting for, but I've been working on this story for a long time, and wanted to get it published before I went back to school. This story takes place a couple of years after TLC, and Leah is in her sixth year at Hogwarts. I am still working on both of my other Harry Potter multi-chapters, but I wanted to get in a one-shot that's set while everyone is still in Hogwarts, and they're all able to be close to one another. I really enjoyed writing this story, since it allowed me to let James, Sirius,** _ **and**_ **Remus all have their moment to shine. Peter has some moments, but most people who have read my stories know how I feel about him-because of how he betrayed his friends and all-so he didn't do very much. This story originally was going to have an argument between James and someone else and Leah trying to stop them before James snaps at her…however, I didn't have the energy to write it, so I just decided to jump in after the argument ended.**

 **DISCLAIMER I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER AND NEVER WILL I JUST GOT MY BROTHER THE CURSED CHILD BOOK AND SO I'M IN A HUGE HARRY POTTER MODE!**

 **Warning: some emotional whumpage, and much brotherly fluff!**

 **One thing-normally I have a fantastic beta-FansieFace-who looks over my Harry Potter stories. However, I have lost contact with them for the last few months, and so I don't have a beta for this story. If anyone knows them or is in contact with them, please let them know that I'm hoping to get back in touch with them!**

 **Please enjoy "** _ **We Look After Our Own**_ **"!**

"She's not going to come talk to you." Lily murmured, staring the Marauders down. The four looked at each other, confused. "What do you mean, Evans?" Sirius queried. "Why wouldn't she talk with us-we're her friends!"

"Well, James got frustrated and snapped at her, right?" Lily asked. When the others nodded, she sighed. "With the way Leah is, any time someone gets mad and snaps at her, she takes it way too personally, and won't go near the person for a while. She thinks that the person hates her or something, and won't go near them for a while. She knows she does it, and she hates it, but it's how she deals with criticism and people getting mad at her. She probably feels that way about you guys right now, so she's probably avoiding you out of nervousness."

"She thinks we _hate_ her?" Peter squeaked, shock showing on every part of his face. Lily nodded, her face softening a little. "Probably, yeah. She knows that you probably don't, but with her social anxiety, when her close friends get mad at her, it really messes her up, since it's one of her worst fears." The five looked at each other in concern, before Remus sighed. "James and I should probably go find and talk to her. You guys go back to the Tower and do…whatever. Maybe you can actually even _study_ for a change." All three of the other Marauders shuddered, while Remus and Lily just rolled their eyes. Eventually, James slapped Remus on the back. "All right then, Moony-let's go find Leah. Lily, don't let Padfoot break anything." Sirius began to mock-protest, but by the time his friends had turned the corner, they couldn't hear him anymore.

Once they were out of the view of anyone else, James pulled out a small piece of parchment, gently touching his wand to it. " _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._ " The parchment immediately burst to life, unfolding several times, until the two were looking at the entirety of the Marauders Map. They both quickly looked around, trying to find Leah. "She's not in Ravenclaw Tower…or the library…or the hospital wing…where is she?" They had almost exhausted every option before Remus pointed to a spot on the map. "There she is-she's out by the lake." James nodded, swiftly folding the map up, before both boys dashed off towards the lake. It was a little chilly-since it had just rained the night before-and both Marauders pulled their cloaks a little further around themselves. It took a few moments, but both boys finally spotted Leah leaning against a tall tree near the water. They both dashed over towards her, pulling up a few feet away.

After a few moments of hesitation, Remus slowly stepped forwards, sitting on Leah's left side and stretching an arm around her shoulders. The younger girl jumped in surprise, staring in shock at her older friend. "Moony? What are you doing here?" she queried quietly. Remus smiled, his eyes locked on her face. "I wanted to see you again. It's been weird without talking with you a lot this week."

"Oh, I'm sure you had a lot of homework and stuff to do." Leah murmured, looking down at the ground. "I mean, you are seventh years and all, so-" Remus placed a hand on Leah's wrist, gently squeezing it to draw her attention. "Leah-sixth year isn't a picnic either. You can't have been having an easy time either-especially with Quidditch and everything else that's going on." The younger prefect continued to look down, but shook her head at his words. She suddenly heard a thump off to her right, and felt a hand rest across her shoulders. "Moony's right, Leah-we want to be sure you're doing okay."

"I thought you didn't want me to bother you." Leah murmured, still looking at the ground and avoiding her friends' eyes. From up above her, however, she could hear both of the boys wince. James then cleared his throat. "Yeah, about that…I am sorry, Leah. You just caught me at a bad time, and I snapped at you when I shouldn't have. Will you forgive me?" It only took a few moments, but Leah eventually nodded. Both of her older friends sighed in relief. "Thank you." the Head Boy murmured, gently drawing the younger girl into a hug. As he did so, Remus turned to face her directly. "Leah-are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay…what are you talking about?" she queried. To most people, she would sound completely normal. Her friends, however, caught the tightness and nervousness in her voice, and the fact that she had started to talk faster than she normally did. Remus softly rubbed her shoulder. "You are _not_ okay, Leah, and we all know it. You're tired and stressed out, and we just want to help." Her friends' hands and words seemed to goad her into talking, as she let out a soft, humorless chuckle.

"It's just…it's just everything, I guess. School's getting really tough this year, with the insane amount of everything we have to learn and homework we have to do-which I am _really_ behind on, especially Transfiguration and DADA-and my wand, since it's made of dogwood, won't actually perform non-verbal spells, which is _what we're learning this whole year_ , and then I have Quidditch practice on top of that, and a few of the more recent practices have ended with some of the new players arguing with the rest of us, and I'm not sure how we're going to be able to beat you lot with the team we've got right now…or if we'll even be able to score a goal…and I've got all of my prefect responsibilities, which aren't _too_ bad, except for the Slytherin prefect I usually patrol with in the evening kinda hates my guts…not that yours and Lily's plans and schedules aren't good, James, it's just…yeah….and then on top of that, I have to have some semblance of friendships with people…and some semblance of a relationship with Elliot…I mean, he's just as busy as you two are, since he's a seventh year, but…" She sighed, gently rubbing her hands into her eyes briefly. "Let's just say that I haven't gotten a lot of sleep in the last…five months."

For a while, the three were quiet, the boys contemplating what their friend had shared, while Leah took a moment to attempt to rest. A minute or so later, the younger girl felt someone poke her in the side. "Hey, Newt-come with us, all right? We've got a way to help you out with some of those things…" She nodded, slowly getting to her feet, her friends wrapping their arms around her shoulders again. From over her head, she could hear the boys conversing. "We should be able to sneak her into the common room…pretty much all of the others are gone for Christmas break. She can hide under the cloak until we get her inside."

"Will the Fat Lady see her under the cloak?"

"I don't think so…she shouldn't be able to see her. She is a painting, after all."

As they continued bantering, they re-entered the castle, heading up the stairs towards the two towers. Instead of taking the path over towards Ravenclaw Tower, however, the boys began to drag Leah off the other way. She briefly attempted to protest, but both James and Remus simply shushed her, and continued pulling her along. By the time they reached the hallway that led directly to Gryffindor Tower, it was rather late. James reached into his bag and pulled out something silver and shimmery. "Here, Leah-I'm going to put this around you, all right? It'll help you get where we want to go." The younger girl nodded, her eyes periodically closing as she stood there. James and Remus quickly pulled the cloak around her, before leading her over towards the Fat Lady's painting, trying to avoid the Fat Lady detecting that Leah was with them. She _technically_ wasn't supposed to be in their dormitory, after all.

" _Mincemeat Pie_." James murmured. The Fat Lady smiled at them, swinging open. The two boys stepped through the portrait hole, pulling Leah with them. Thankfully, the only people in the common room were Sirius, Peter, and Lily, who were all sitting around the fire. They looked up as the three entered, immediately moving over towards them as James and Remus pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of Leah's shoulders. "Leah? How are you?" Lily queried, gently resting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. Leah smiled shyly at her friend, before shaking her head. "Well, I, uh…I'm not doing too well." She suddenly let out a large grunt as Sirius enveloped her in a large hug, nearly knocking her off of her feet. "It's good to see you again, Leah. We've missed you."

"I've missed you too." she murmured quietly, finally looking up at the older boy. He grinned, pulling her over towards the fire. While he and the others moved over towards the flames, James turned to Lily and Remus. "Lily, we need to look at the patrol schedules later. Leah said that the Slytherin she goes patrolling with hates her. She just mentioned it a few minutes ago, so I didn't have any chance to look it over beforehand." Lily's eyes widened a little, before nodding. "All right-we can take a look at it after we get her settled." The two boys nodded, before heading over to join the group. While they had been talking, Sirius had pulled Leah down to lean against his chest, tucking her head under his chin. Her eyes were constantly flickering, and it seemed like she was going to fall asleep right then and there. "How much sleep did you get last night?" Peter queried, looking over at her from a nearby chair. Leah looked guiltily down at the floor, before Sirius gently tipped her face back up towards them. "How long, Leah?" The quiet and gentle tone of his voice seemed to soothe Leah a bit, as she took a deep breath, before replying, "Four hours or so…three to four, anyways."

"Leah-that's not enough sleep for anyone to survive through school for long, especially with how stressed you are." Remus admonished, moving over to sit on her left. The younger girl smirked at him as she tiredly rolled her eyes. "Like I said, Moony-I don't have time to sleep. I have a ton of homework to get caught up on, Quidditch practice to run, a not-very-existent life to have, a hard-to-have relationship with a seventh year who's got even more responsibilities than I do, and patrolling with a Slytherin sixth year who's very good friends with Montair." She sighed, looking down on the floor. Within a few seconds, she felt James and Lily sit down in front of her. "Don't worry, Leah-we're going to help you out." James murmured, softly resting a hand on her knee. "How-you're not in my year."

"No, but I think we might remember a _few_ things from last year." Sirius teased, softly rubbing her shoulder. "Moony probably still has every single class memorized from sixth year."

"Hey, I do not-"

"-anyways, we're going to help you, whether you like it or not."

"…thanks, Padfoot." Leah murmured quietly. The others smiled at her, before Lily pulled something from her pocket. "Leah-can you tell me which Slytherin prefect doesn't like you?" Leah nodded, looking at the piece of paper the older girl handed her. She looked over it for a few seconds, before pointing at one name. "There-Tara Quinn. She's a good friend of Montair's, and won't hesitate to bother me when he can't." Lily smiled at her, taking the paper back and circling the name. "Good to know-James and I'll go over the schedule tomorrow, and we'll figure out how to fix that." Leah grinned at her, snuggling a bit more into Sirius's chest as she did so. "Thanks." she murmured quietly. "A lot of people in Ravenclaw have been avoiding me recently…and not being very nice."

"Why?"

"Mostly because of the Quidditch team-a lot of them can't stand the fact that the 'retard' got made the Captain, and they like to cite the fact that the team's been struggling as of late, and that the second and fourth years aren't listening to me at all." She sighed quietly, looking back down at the ground. Since she was looking away from the others, she missed the conspiring look between them. Finally, James cleared his throat. "You know, Leah-you'd probably feel a bit better if you got some sleep-you look dead on your feet." The younger girl tried to protest, but her eyes were already starting to slip shut again. "Maybe…but I'd need to go back to Ravenclaw Tower for that."

"Not really." Sirius murmured, rubbing a hand across her back. "We got you in here without the Fat Lady realizing it, and there's no one else in here but us. You can totally sleep in here…and it looks like you're already on your way." Leah gently smacked his side, quietly humming in reluctant agreement. She could hear her friends chuckling above her, and she rolled her eyes. A couple of seconds later, she felt a gentle hand tracing across her forehead and smiled, not even having to open her eyes to know that it was Remus. "You need to sleep, Leah-you're exhausted." he murmured, slowly smoothing his hand over her face until they laid across her eyes, pressing down a little to keep them closed. "We'll make sure no one bothers you-go to sleep." With the combination of Sirius rubbing her back, Remus resting his hand over her eyes, Peter placing a hand on her shoulder, and James and Lily moving close enough to rub their hands against her legs, she slipped into a half-doze, still aware enough to feel someone-who felt like Sirius, she figured-place their arms underneath her knees and shoulders, and quickly lifted her, bridal style, as he got to his feet. "She's heavier than she looks." he murmured. The others chuckled again, before getting to their feet. "Well, at least we're just moving her to the boys' dorm. You won't have to carry her for _too_ long, Pads." Sirius growled good-naturedly under his breath, before walking over towards the stairs.

"You know, I could just take her over to the girls' dorm."

"You could, Lils, but you wouldn't be able to lift her, with the amount of trouble Padfoot's seeming to have with her. Thus, one of us would have to carry her, and none of us can get up the stairs to the girls' dorm, because they kind of turn into a slide whenever we try. Moving her to our dorm just makes sense." Lily sighed, having to agree with Remus's reasoning. She then accompanied the Marauders as they walked up to the seventh-year boys' dorm. Peter pushed the door open, and Sirius gently laid Leah down on the fourth, unused, bed (James and Lily both lived in the Heads' dorm now). As he did so, the younger girl rolled over, shivering slightly. Sirius reached over and rustled her hair, which seemed to calm her down. He then turned towards the others in the room. "What are we going to do?" he queried. For a moment, the room was silent, while everyone contemplated. Finally, James cleared his throat.

"Well, I have a couple of ideas. Moony and Lily can help her get caught up on homework, since you're the two of the smartest students in our class. Padfoot and I can help her out with her Quidditch team problems. Plus…maybe we could help her and Elliot go on some sort of date or something-she said she hasn't really gotten to spend time with him lately."

"Wouldn't your team get mad at you for helping the Ravenclaw team, though? Since they're one of your opponents?"

"No-most all of them know Leah. Some of them weren't on the team during our fifth year, but they still know that she's a good friend of ours, and one who shouldn't be messed with. They'll understand why Sirius and I are visiting a Ravenclaw Quidditch practice."

The next morning, Leah rolled over in her bed, briefly shivering as a cool breeze flew around her. She attempted to pull the blankets over her head and burrow into the warmth, but she froze as someone else did it for her. A gentle hand ran through her hair for a little while, before settling on the top of her head. "Good morning, Leah."

"…hey, Moony…"

Remus chuckled, running his hand through her hair again. "You are not a morning person, are you?"

"…Nope…" The younger girl slowly opened her eyes, leaning into Remus's hand a bit. "My roommates are, but I'm not…which is why I always keep the curtains closed when I sleep." She smiled, beginning to lever herself into a sitting position. Remus sat down next to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Peter and I are the same way, whereas James and Sirius like to wake up with the sun. They have doused us with water a few times to force us to get up, but we've also glued them to their beds a few times to keep them from waking us."

"Remus Lupin-what a devious prank for you to pull off!" Leah teased, gently nudging him and chuckling. Remus rolled his eyes, smirking at her. "Hey-Peter and I can pull off our own pranks from time to time, you know!"

"Speaking of you and Peter…where are the others?"

"They headed down to breakfast earlier. They said that they would wait for us to get down there before they did too much."

"Oh…I probably look like an idiot."

"You look fine, Leah. A little tired, yes, but perfectly lovely." Remus rose to his feet, holding his hand out towards the younger girl. A few moments later, Leah placed her hand in his, shyly looking at the ground as the older boy began to lead her towards the dining hall. Luckily, they didn't run into too many people (as there weren't many people there-a record low), and most people were already eating. As the two slid into seats next to their friends, Leah let out a sigh of relief. "Good-I didn't have to talk to anyone."

"Not a morning person, then, Newt?"

"Not really, Prongs. I've almost stabbed a few of my friends with a fork when they wouldn't leave me alone in the morning." Leah reached out and grabbed a glass of coffee, smiling quietly as the caffeine hit. Her friends laughed, before continuing on with their conversation. They periodically involved Leah, but they continued to talk amongst themselves, allowing her to wake up and become more alert on her own. Lily also repeatedly snuck grins and a gentle pat on the hand towards her younger friend, who gradually began to return them as she became more awake. Eventually, Leah slowly reached her hand under the table and gently ran her hand along Sirius's left side, right over the ribs. The older boy was _extremely_ ticklish there, and he proved it by jumping almost a foot in the air when he felt it. "Gah, Newt-don't do that! You know how ticklish I am!"

"That's probably why she does it, Sirius!" Peter teased. "She tends to be rather _dogged_ when it comes to tickling people." Everyone in the group gaped at Peter in shock-he wasn't usually the first person to crack a joke; he would usually wait until the older boys said something first. Eventually, James recovered enough to high-five the other Marauder. "Well done, Wormy!" he crowed. Peter grinned back at him, while Sirius rolled his eyes- _he_ was usually the one to make those sorts of jokes.

The group bantered for a while between themselves, drawing bemused looks from the Hufflepuffs who were there, and a couple of the Ravenclaws, as well as death glares from everyone else. After a few minutes, Lily turned towards Leah. "So, Le-what is the most important assignment you need to work on over break?"

"Umm…my essays, probably." Leah replied. "I think if I got those out of the way, it would be a lot easier to get through the rest of the work."

"And you have one in every class?"

"Yeah, pretty much-there's a couple classes that don't, but that's pretty much just my music classes, so…yeah."

"All right-James can help you with Transfiguration, since he's the best of our year in that class, and I can help you with Potions and Charms, and some of the other ones." Leah nodded, before chuckling slightly. "Lily-did you just admit that James is one of the best students in your year?"

"Isn't she required to, since she and Prongs are dating?" Sirius teased, squawking in shock a moment later as Lily proceeded to smack him in the shoulder. "Owh, owh-call off your girlfriend, James!"

"You know I would, mate…but I'm actually enjoying this," James teased, sitting back with a smirk as he turned to Leah, who grinned back. Sirius briefly turned towards Remus and Peter, both of whom shook their heads. "Don't look at us, Pads-you brought this on yourself."

"Some best friends you all are," Sirius groaned dramatically. Eventually, James cleared his throat, slowly standing up from the table. "All right, Leah, your bag is still in the Ravenclaw dorm, right?" When she nodded, he continued, "Go grab it, and meet us by the stairs to the Gryffindor dorm. We'll smuggle you in like we did last time, and then we can start working. Fortunately, we've already finished our homework."

"We could just meet up in my dorm," Leah argued, but Remus shook his head, grinning at her. "It would be a lot harder for us all to get in there than it would to get you into ours. Plus, from what I've heard from other Ravenclaws, your common room is freezing at this time of year, right?"

"…I mean, it isn't the warmest of places, sure…"

"That's why-the Gryffindor common room is always incredibly warm, since there's always a huge fire going." He turned to the others, who were joining him and James in rising to their feet. "Here-I'll go with Leah to grab her things, while you guys go claim some chairs by the fire."

"Sounds good to me. You should probably take this, then." James reached under his cloak, glancing around before pulling out a silvery cloak. Leah's eyes widened in amazement. "Is that a-" Sirius clamped a hand over her mouth, shaking his head before placing a finger to his lips. Leah nodded, and as soon as he took his hand away, she whispered, "Is that an _Invisibility Cloak_?"

"Yes, and it's how we snuck you in last night. If Remus is with you, he can just throw it over you before you get into view of the Fat Lady. You can't tell anyone that I have it, though, all right? It's how we, well…do our Maraudering, after all." Leah quickly nodded, smiling gently. "Don't worry-I'm good at not telling people things." Her friends chuckled, before James patted both her and Remus on the shoulder. "Moony, you and Newt should probably head out. It'll take longer for you guys to get up to Ravenclaw Tower and then over to our dorm than it'll take us to get to our common room." Remus nodded, and he pocketed the Invisibility Cloak, following Leah out a moment later. They soon exited the Great Hall and made their way up the stairs, Remus unconsciously heading for Gryffindor Tower before Leah grabbed his hand. "No, Moony, it's this way," she muttered, tugging him in the opposite direction. Remus chuckled, turning around and allowing the younger girl to lead. "You know, I've never actually realized that different houses go different ways from the Great Hall to their dorms."

"Seriously? Seven years and you've _never_ noticed that?"

"Hey, the others and I are usually either headed to Gryffindor Tower or one of our classes, so we don't really pay attention to what's going on around us." Leah chuckled, before beginning to climb a rather discreet flight of stairs. "Well, granted, there are a lot of Gryffindors at school, but the rest of us do go in different directions. We just hide where we go in order to not display where our dorms are…granted, the Ravenclaw dorm is probably the easiest to sneak into."

"Why?"

"All it does is ask you a question. To be honest, the questions can be kinda difficult, but it's not like the eagle knocker can tell which house you're in. You could be from Slytherin and get the answer right, and it would let you in." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "You do have to get up these incredibly steep stairs first, though."

After about five minutes or so, they arrived at the top of the staircase. In front of them was a large blue door, with a bronze eagle knocker set in the middle. Leah stepped forwards, gently knocking. A few seconds later, the eagle knocker began to speak, saying, " _Tear off one and scratch its head, what was red's now black instead_." Both Leah and Remus froze, trying to think of a solution. "Have you checked with any of the others today?"

"No…I haven't seen anyone else this morning, since I headed to breakfast with all of you. Plus, you know me-I don't people very well." Remus chuckled quietly, still puzzled as to what the answer could be. Suddenly, Leah gasped. "Wait a minute, I think I know the answer." She turned back to the knocker and confidently declared, "A matchstick."

" _Correc_ t," the knocker replied, slowly swinging the door open. Once they were able to enter the room, Remus closed the door behind him, muttering, "How did you know it was a matchstick?"

"When I was younger, my family and I were visiting my grandparents, and a few other people had come over. The power went out, and since the other people there were Muggles, none of us could use magic. My grandfather ended up pulling out some matches to light a bunch of candles, since they didn't have one of those mechanical lighters." She paused, beginning to climb up the stairs. "I'm not certain, but I don't think you'll be allowed into the girl's side of the dorms. I'll run upstairs and grab my stuff, then meet you back down here." When the older man nodded, Leah dashed up the stairs, quickly opening the door to her room before murmuring, " _Accio textbooks._ " Her bed was closest to the door, so she was able to grab her bag before all of her rather heavy textbooks landed near her. She grabbed everything that she thought she would need, before leaving the room, struggling a bit under the weight. Once she rejoined Remus, the older Gryffindor took one look at her bag before swinging it off of her shoulders and resting it on his own. "Remus, I can carry that," Leah protested as Remus led her back towards the exit, a hand resting on her shoulders. "I am sure you can, Newt, but there are a _lot_ of heavy books in here. Plus, the boys would laugh if I was anything less than a gentleman. James and I are kind of known for that, after all."

"Wait- _James_ is known for that?"

"Now that he's dating Lily, yeah. Sirius is, well…Sirius, and Peter's too terrified to even talk to a girl except for you and Lily. Lily's done a lot to straighten James out since last year." Leah chuckled, before sobering slightly. "I probably shouldn't ask this, but…Sirius moved in with James at some point in the last year or so, right? I don't know any details, and I probably don't need to know, but I heard some people in the common room talking about it recently." Remus smiled grimly, faintly nodding his head. "Yes, he did. I can't really offer any details unless Sirius says I can, but…let's just say that his living situation wasn't the best, and James gave him a way out." Leah nodded, smartly not pushing the older Marauder further.

It didn't take very long for them to head down the stairs, and they found their way to the Gryffindor dorms rather quickly. Leah draped the Invisibility Cloak over herself, and Remus gave the password, allowing them to slip inside. The others were sitting by the fire, and looked up as they approached. "Good-you guys made it. Peter's been attempting to tell us jokes the last few minutes…hasn't been going too well." Peter glared at Sirius, who simply shrugged, stretching out a little further. James smirked, scooting over as the other two sat down. "Ready to start, Leah?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," the younger girl muttered.

The group proceeded to spend the whole day studying, with James, Remus, and Lily actually helping the younger woman, while Sirius and Peter seemed to have relegated themselves to annoying the others, and keeping them from becoming too dragged down in their work. This was basically how they spent the rest of the break, until Leah had finished all of the homework that had bogged her down. The last week or so was mostly spent outside, getting into snowball fights or just chasing each other around. By the time school began again, Leah was having a much easier time in school.

And the fact that her friends-not just Lily and Marauders, but also Carter and Cooper-found a way to set her and Elliot up on a date during the first Hogsmede weekend that occurred-was the icing on the cake.

After that break, the year began to turn around for Leah. She was still extremely busy, but she was able to have more time to do things with friends-and with Elliot-and was doing a lot better in her classes. Everything was going well.

Well, _almost_ everything.

Leah ducked as the Quaffle streaked past her head for the third time. The practice had gone all right at first, but-as always happened-the new players on the team (two Chasers and a Seeker) had decided that they were done listening to that 'old retard' and her friends, and had begun to swoop around the pitch, doing whatever they wanted with the Quaffle. She looked over towards her old teammates, and Elliot, Cooper, and Carter seemed to be just as fed up as she was, but they appeared to be suggesting that _she_ try to deal with the three younger students first, since _she_ was the Captain. Leah sighed, slowly rising up towards them. "Hey, Taylor, Sydney, Jesse-let's get back to what we were doing, all right? We still have a good bit of practicing to do before we play Gryffindor in a couple of weeks."

"No, we don't," Taylor cackled, "and you can't make us!" From behind her, Leah could hear the three older boys growling. "Um, actually, I can-I'm the Captain. That means what I say goes."

"You, captain? As if-who would make you captain?" Sydney mocked, smirking at the older girl. "No one ever picked you to be the Quidditch captain, you deluded old hag." Almost immediately, Elliot, Cooper, and Carter soared up to join Leah, floating around her in a rather protective manner. "You take that back, you arrogant toerag. Flitwick chose her himself to be the Captain-and you can't argue with him. It's kind of impossible, if you haven't noticed." Carter growled. He fixed a dark glare directly at the three, but none of them seemed to be particularly phased by it, as Jesse continued, "Right-everybody knows that Flitwick just said that the retard was going to be Captain, but never actually meant it. I mean, why would he ever actually pick someone like her? No, she's not the real Captain-Sydney is, and she will kick all four of you off the team so fast if you don't shut up." The glares the second-year boy received at this statement could have possibly incinerated him, with how dark and murderous they were. Leah was actually having to half-heartedly hold back Cooper and Carter from going over and tearing him from limb to limb.

Luckily-or, rather, _unluckily_ -for him, a loud voice called out from the pitch itself. "Hey-Ravenclaw Quidditch team! Come down here for a moment-there's someone who needs to talk to you!" Leah, Carter, Cooper, and Elliot looked at each other in confusion. "Why…why does James want to talk to us?" Cooper asked. The others shrugged, just as confused as he was. The three troublemakers had already begun to streak down towards the pitch-they, like many their age, were in awe of the Marauders and what they could do, especially James and Sirius, since they were also outstanding Quidditch players. As the four vets began to descend, they suddenly realized that James wasn't alone. Sirius was with him, and so was Professor Flitwick…and…

 _Dumbledore_?

What was _he_ doing there?

As the four landed, Leah turned towards the two staff members. "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, Professor Dumbledore…but, uh…what are you doing here?" she asked timidly. Professor Dumbledore smiled down at her. "Well, Leah, it has come to our attention-thanks to these two young men here-that you've been having a bit of trouble running your team's practices. Something about a few new players who won't listen to their Captain's instructions?"

"Oh, we listen to our Captain, sir-Sydney always has good instructions." Again, if looks could kill, Taylor would be eviscerated in a heartbeat. "Sydney is not the team Captain, Taylor. Leah is."

"Pardon me, Professor-but are you kidding me? Everyone knows that this old retard only got _suggested_ as Captain because you wanted it to seem like she can do something good even though she's completely demented. Since she is a complete and abject failure at her 'job', the Captaincy therefore belongs to the most talented member of the team-me." As Sydney ranted, Leah looked down at the ground, her eyes shining a little as she bit her lip. Before too long, however, she felt Elliot slip his larger hand around hers and squeeze gently, and she looked up to see he and James and Sirius smiling at her.

"Well, _Captain_ -it seems that you have some problematic teammates that you need to deal with. What do you want to do?" Dumbledore asked. Almost immediately, Sydney, Taylor, and Jesse burst out laughing. "Kick them off the team, of course! They can't play Quidditch to save their lives!" Sydney responded, Taylor and Jesse both nodding in agreement. They stopped laughing, however, when James and Sirius both shook their heads. "Didn't you hear what the professors said?" Sirius questioned, his gray eyes blazing. "You're _not_ the Captain." The three stared in shock, before they turned towards their older teammates. "Oh, you can't be serious-"

"But he is." Elliot muttered, gently squeezing Leah's hand again. "It's Leah's choice about what happens." Leah sighed, biting her lip as she thought for a moment. Then, she looked back up at the group, a determined look in her eye. "I would like them to cease to be a part of the team. There are other people I could give the spots to who are just as deserving, and who won't treat me and the others like crap." She turned around, now specifically addressing Sydney, Taylor, and Jesse. "You three are no longer on the team-I don't want to see you at practices or games trying to suit up and play, and I don't want to see you heckling the people who take your spots. Just don't…don't bother us again." It took a few moments-and a lot of frustrated glaring-but the three younger students finally began to head out, grumbling all the way. Leah turned back around, before grunting in pain as the Quaffle (thrown by Jesse) hit her in the back of the head. "Owh…" she murmured. Cooper and Carter locked eyes with each other, before the former rested his hand on Leah's shoulder. "We're going to go take care of…something…we'll be right back." he murmured. Leah nodded, quietly chuckling a little as the twins left the pitch.

"I'm assuming they're going to make sure those three troublemakers actually leave the premises?" Dumbledore queried. Leah and Elliot grinned, both nodding and trying not to laugh at their teammates. Both of the professors smiled back. "Well, we must be getting back to work-but I will be keeping an eye on those three. If they ever bother you again, just tell me, and I will deal with them." Professor Flitwick said, looking straight at Leah. The younger girl nodded shyly. "Thank you, sir-and thank you too, Professor Dumbledore."

"Oh, don't thank us-thank these two gentlemen here. They were the ones who came and told us about the difficulties you were having." Dumbledore responded, before turning and following Professor Flitwick off of the pitch, back towards the school. As soon as they were far enough away, Leah immediately moved over to James and Sirius and gave each of them a huge hug. "Thank you." she murmured quietly. Both the boys smiled at her, and Sirius ruffled her hair a little (and she, like always, attempted to swat his hand away). "You're welcome, Newt-you didn't need those idiots on your team. You need people like Elliot, who-kind of-know what they're doing." Elliot began to mock-protest, which just caused the others to laugh.

"Hey! I know what I'm doing-I helped us beat you a couple of years ago!"

"Yeah-and played with a _dislocated_ shoulder, and then cracked it afterwards by slipping on a wet stair. If that's _not_ being an idiot, I don't know what _is_."

"Oh hush, you." Leah grinned up at the older boy as he gently pulled her into a hug, and then pressed a kiss to her forehead. Elliot then turned back to James and Sirius. "Seriously, thank you for that, though-Leah was never going to say anything no matter how bad things got, and they wouldn't have listened to us if we tried-"

"We _did_ try. And they _definitely_ didn't listen." Carter called as he and Cooper walked back across the pitch. Both of them had satisfied smirks on their faces, and both Elliot and Leah groaned. "How beaten up are they?" the younger girl queried. Both of the Beaters immediately plastered innocent looks on their faces, but none of the others bought it. "They're not _that_ bad off, we swear. They just may be sore for a few days…all over." Cooper muttered. Leah chuckled quietly. "Thanks, guys." she muttered, smiling up at them all. The men all smiled at her, laughing as she slowly began to blush and looked down at the ground. Eventually, her head snapped back up. "Crap…that means that we have to find three new players in three weeks! How are we going to find two new Chasers and a Seeker in three weeks?" Cooper gently rested a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, Leah-we already know a few people. Remember Madison? Madison Girlich? We've played against her a few times in friendly matches-she's not too bad of a Chaser."

"And neither is Natalie Hartsorn-that third year who dislocated her wrist right before tryouts." Elliot continued. "I talked with her afterwards, and she was heartbroken about having to miss the tryouts. We could go and grab them and see how well they do with the rest of us."

"All right…that just leaves a Seeker." Leah murmured, biting her lip. This time, instead of a nervous reaction, it was more of a thinking motion. "Hmm…what about that fifth-year…I don't remember his name, but that guy who went around and murdered that bug in the common room a few days ago? I swear he tracked that thing for like five minutes while he was chasing it."

"Oh-you mean Daniel Watson, don't you?" Carter queried, nodding slightly. "I remember that-and he's pretty handy on a broom, too. I think he wanted to come to tryouts, but he was a bit nervous to. He's shy, just like you." Leah rolled her eyes, but quietly grinned at him. "I'm not shy-I'm an introvert who has social anxiety."

"And you're shy."

"…yeah…" The younger girl quickly reached out and slapped her boyfriend on the arm, causing him to wince briefly. "Owh, Leah!"

"Hey-at least she didn't elbow you in the stomach. Those things are sharp!" Carter teased. The others laughed, and Leah groaned, gently facepalming. "I swear-I'm surrounded by idiots." she murmured. After a few moments, she turned to her teammates. "So, would you guys be okay with going and grabbing the three of them? That way we can try them out and see how well they work with the four of us." The three boys nodded, setting their brooms down against the wall. "We'll be right back-don't burn the pitch down while we're gone or anything." Elliot teased. Leah nodded, smirking at him. "Don't worry-most of it will still be standing when you get back." The older boy chuckled, rolling his eyes before following the two Beaters off the pitch. Leah then turned to James and Sirius, her hazel eyes twinkling. "Isn't the rest of the Gryffindor team going to be mad when they find out you two helped me?" she questioned. Both James and Sirius grinned, shaking their heads. "No, they were fine with it once we explained what was going on…and that we weren't going to reveal any of our trade secrets."

"The Gryffindor team has secrets? That's news!"

"Oh hush, you."

"Besides-we've both beaten Slytherin, and you've beaten Hufflepuff. We have to beat you in order to get to play in the final…which would still be against you…but we'd rather play against a team who doesn't break off into two separate factions every five minutes, even though that would be a lot easier to beat. We'd rather have an opponent that we know we _want_ to beat than one we know we can _pity_ -beat."

"Um…thanks…I think." The others chuckled, before gently patting her on the back. Leah grinned, gently hugging both of the boys. Both James and Sirius brushed a kiss onto her forehead, resting their arms around her shoulders. "Thanks, guys," she murmured quietly, smiling back up at them. James grinned, squeezing her shoulders gently. "Don't worry, Newt-we're always going to watch out for you. You're one of our good friends, after all." Leah grinned, leaning into their touch a bit more.

The Marauders were always going to look out for her…and that was just fine with her.

 _ **A/N 2: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this story! I've been working on this for a while, and I'm happy with how it worked out!**_ __ _ **I almost forgot to give credit where credit was due, but the question that the eagle knocker asks them is from a Buzzfeed quiz that I found. I may be a Ravenclaw, but I'm not good at coming up with riddles. Just wanted to give credit to them, I should have chapter 9 of TLC done soon, but I start my second semester of college in 3 days, so we'll see how that works out. I have the last chapter entirely completed, so it's just chapter 9 that I need.**_

 _ **Well, I hope you enjoyed this story, and I'll see you all soon!**_

 _ **God bless,**_

 _ **1monster2**_


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